Matt Cashore, USA TODAY Sports
Keys To Victory: Notre Dame vs. Boston College
No. 16 Notre Dame (8-2) will look to finish with its second straight undefeated home slate when it hosts Boston College (5-5). The Eagles are reeling, but their ground game can create problems. Notre Dame is still pushing for a New Year’s Six bowl berth, and an impressive win over Boston College is a key ingredient to that.
Here are the keys to Notre Dame handling business against Boston College:
NOTRE DAME DEFENSE
1. Box Discipline — Boston College does a great job designing its run game to create as many gaps and run lanes as possible. Combined with how effectively the offense executes that game plan, slowing down the BC run game requires the front seven to be incredibly disciplined. Losing gap integrity up front or fitting incorrectly at the linebacker level will result in running backs AJ Dillon and David Bailey gashing the defense.
Boston College has a clear size advantage over Notre Dame, with its line averaging 305 pounds compared to a Notre Dame defensive line that weighs an average of 275 pounds. The counter to that is Notre Dame has a clear athleticism advantage. If Clark Lea and Mike Elston can get the defensive line to use that while maintaining gap integrity it would be a key ingredient to shutting down the run game.
2. Throw Off The Timing Of The Run Game — The defensive line being used to attack the run game is a key to success for the Irish, assuming it comes with gap integrity. A second key is the line forcing the Boston College blockers to stay on them as long as possible, which should allow the athletic Irish linebackers to attack downhill as fast and aggressively as possible.
Boston College has a very good downhill run game, and the further downfield the backs get before making cuts the harder it is to stop them. When they have to make cuts deep behind the line it allows the linebackers and safeties to rally to the ball much faster, and it also slows down the backs for a few steps, which also aids the linebackers and safeties.
3. Safeties Must Play Big — Boston College puts safeties in a similar bind that Navy did. They are going to be put in position to make a lot of plays in the run game, but they will also be stressed in a big way in the play-action game. Boston College tight end Hunter Long is also a weapon in the screen game and up the seams, which is another situation where the safeties will be stressed.
The focus will be on stopping the run game, but BC will look to generate big plays with play-action throws and screens. If Alohi Gilman, Jalen Elliott and Kyle Hamilton play smart and make plays the Eagles will have a hard time scoring enough points to win the game. Them playing well means they will limit yards after contact, will limit the effectiveness of the screen game and along with the corners they will keep the play-action game in check.
NOTRE DAME OFFENSE
1. Get The Run Game Going Early — In games where opponents rushed for at least 175 yards and passed for at least 200 yards, the Boston College defense gave up 42.6 points per game. In the games where that didn’t happen they gave up just 21.6 points per game.
Offenses that get the run game going early force the BC linebackers to play more downhill and get the safeties peaking into the backfield more. Once that happens the middle of the field opens up in a big way, which would then allow quarterback Ian Book to rip apart the Eagle defense.
If Notre Dame tries to be too pass heavy early on it could work, that’s how bad Boston College is on defense, but it makes them more vulnerable to misses, getting off schedule and it allows the Eagles to bring more blitzes. That could lead to mistakes that make an inferior opponent capable of staying in the game longer. Come out balanced and you set yourself up to keep them on their heels, which then leads to the Irish offense dominating the Eagles.
2. Attack The Safeties — Simply put, the Boston College safeties aren’t very good in coverage. OC Chip Long has been quite good at going after teams with poor safety play, as we saw against Navy last week. I expect to see Long use a variety of alignments and play-action looks to go after the Boston College safeties. If Book throws against BC the way he did against Navy that should result in the Irish ripping off a number of big plays through the air.
Boston College should have a very hard time playing with Notre Dame's bigger players, which could mean a big day from Chase Claypool and/or tight end Cole Kmet. It could also set up deep shots like we saw a week ago.
3. No Big Mistakes — Notre Dame has a significant talent and scheme advantage over Boston College. If the offense plays its game the result will be a lot of yards and a lot of points. The only chance BC has in this game is that Notre Dame plays sloppy ball, which means misses and turnovers. Play a clean game and the offense should have a big day. Make a lot of mistakes and give BC short fields and the game will be much closer than it should.
Follow me on Twitter: @CoachD178
Visit our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/IrishMaven/
